Beyond the Broken Mirror
by Richan MMI
Summary: The world is broken apart and must be pieced back together. What happens when Harry and the others find themselves on the other side of the mirror? Slash.
1. The Mirror Breaks

Beyond the Broken Mirror

by Richan

Disclaimer: Seeing as how the closest I've ever been to England is Niagara Falls, it's a pretty sure bet that I'm not JK Rowling. I'm only messing with her characters' heads.

Warnings: Character death implied. Another angsty story. Written at 3 in the morning after working 15 hours straight on the remainders of the energy left from fighting the 'flu. I'm also telling you right now that there will be heavy slash, but not in this part.

Part 1

The Mirror Breaks

Harry listened to the whispers in the stadium and wished he couldn't hear them. The silence of the crowd was magnified when it was apparent that nobody was standing next to England's seeker. The announcer quickly went on to the next player, whose family was already loudly celebrating.

He followed his fellow players as the stadium emptied out, staying back to let them enjoy the family that loved them all the while wishing that *some*body was there with him. He should have known that the Dursleys had been right all along. Harry wasn't worth the energy or time to be part of a family, and it looked like they had also been right in that he didn't deserve friends.

Today was to have been special, but instead it had turned into a nightmare of proportions he hadn't seen since before he had defeated Voldemort two years ago. He had invited Sirius and Remus to the game, hoping that they would enjoy the game even if he didn't catch the snitch. The seats had been up in the box where the president of the quidditch association would be seated, meaning that they would be premium seats. Harry had had to give up the salary he would earn for the game for them, and had even arranged for rooms at one of the nicer hotels an hour broom flight to Dublin for post-celebrations. He had been hoping to get the chance to talk to Sirius and Remus before the game, but his coach had wanted the entire team to stay in the locker room until game time. Still, he'd been quite excited to see the two of them, even if the game went horrible.

Harry looked around the now deserted locker room and tiredly put his broom in his case, before changing out of his robes to the clothes he had brought for the party. The fine, linen shirt and smart, grey pants had been stylish enough to suit the party, while affording Harry some comfort in the middle of the Muggle city.

Deciding against going to the hotel, he apparated home and put his broom away, knowing he wouldn't be touching it for a long time. As he closed the closet door, he was assaulted by memories of two years ago, when part of him had died.

The last battle had been rough and losing Dumbledore had been the worst part. Harry could feel his chest tighten as he saw, once again, Voldemort throwing the killing curse at the headmaster, just knowing that he was too far away to do anything. A part of him knew that he wasn't to blame for it, but the larger part of him knew that it wouldn't have happened if Voldemort hadn't been so determined to kill Harry.

Flying had been one of the few things he had found pleasure in after the second fall of the Dark Lord. That was why he had gone into playing quidditch. It wasn't because he wasn't good for anything else - indeed, the Ministry had offered him several positions - but that it brought him joy.

Now that he knew he was alone, what was the point in flying? He couldn't share it with those he held dear. They obviously didn't think the same of him.

He thought back to a month ago, when Ron had made it clear that Harry wasn't welcome in his and Hermione's house anymore. Harry had apparated over, ready for the dinner his friends had invited him to, a bottle of wine in one hand and a bunch of flowers for Hermione in the other. Knocking on the door, he had found it strange when no one answered for a minute. Harry knocked a second time, and just as he was knocking the third time, Ron had opened the door, disheveled and clothing half on. His friend had yelled at him, saying that he had interrupted a very precious moment between him and his wife, and would he please leave them alone for as long as possible. Perferably forever.

Harry had stood there for a while, staring at the closed door, thinking that this must be some kind of joke. He knew that it was the correct day for the dinner - he still had the invitation in his pocket and had checked it twice already. After half an hour, he realized it was pointless of him even being there, so he had gone home and gotten smashingly drunk.

The next morning, he had taken out the tickets for the World Cup game he had gotten for his friends and had looked at them for a while. He had been planning on giving them to Ron last night at dinner, knowing that his friend would enjoy them since one of the chasers for England was from the Chudley Cannons, Ron's perennial favorite Quidditch team. Now they would go unused. Still, he had sent Hedwig off yesterday to Sirius and Remus, who shared a flat near Diagon Alley, knowing that they would appreciate the sentiment.

Harry had spent more than a week procuring the tickets, trading favors with his teammates for the opportunity to get them. He thought of the favor he'd done to get these two particular tickets and knew that his friend would never know the effort Harry had gone through for Ron. As it was, the humiliating pictures he'd had taken for the favor would be spread all over the wizarding world, when the public found out he was Mr. July in the _Up and Coming Bachelors_ calendar.

Had he always been destined to be alone? He didn't want to be, having only Hedwig as his company when he wasn't practicing. Harry hadn't seen his godfather in more than two months, even though he had written several letters and gotten a few in reply. It had been just a few lines, but he had known that his godfather was working hard to establish the business he and Remus had started, _Flying Dreams_, selling various things that flew, namely motorcycles.

Harry wished he knew what he had done wrong, because it was obvious to him that he had done something to make everyone he loved go away. He wanted to know so he could correct it, make it all right again.

He picked up his glass, wondering when it had gone empty. Filling it up with the golden liquor, Harry stared out the window and saw the half moon hanging low in the sky. Wondering if Destiny was laughing, he poured himself another drink.

******

Sirius stared at the headline in horror.

ENGLAND WINS OVER NEW ZEALAND 620 - 480

POTTER CATCHES SNITCH TO WIN GAME

He scrambled for the drawer where he had been putting Harry's letters and hurriedly plowed through them, emptying them as quickly as he could. Halfway down the stack, two pieces of heavy parchment floated gracefully to the floor. They landed face up to reveal they were for two *very* nice seats in the Quidditch Association's box.

Sirius felt horrible. He had promised Harry that he would be there for all of his games, and now, with the biggest of them all, he hadn't shown up. He sat down at the table, his head in his hands.

"Siri?"

He didn't bother looking up at the sound of Remus' voice floating through the flat.

"Siri?"

"What's today's date?"

"August 4th," Remus replied. "Why?"

Sirius was quiet for a minute. "Tell me, do you remember sending Harry's birthday present?"

Remus looked startled. "Me send it? I thought you had."

Something broke inside Sirius as he stood up to look over to where he had put Harry's present and saw it was still sitting there. He heard Remus gasp beside him and knew that the other man had followed the direction his eyes had taken.

"What was yesterday?" Sirius croaked out.

"The third, Siri," Remus said slowly.

"NO!" Sirius shouted. "What was supposed to happen yesterday?"

Remus' eyes widened and opened his mouth to answer.

"The World Cup," Sirius said before his friend could answer.

"Shit!"

Sirius ignored Remus' swearing in favor of berating himself. He knew how important quidditch was to Harry, and just how happy he'd been when the coach for England had recruited him.

He sat back down abruptly when he realized that he hadn't talked to Harry about anything besides the shop for months since then, and hadn't even bothered to read his letters, let alone really answering them. His sole focus the last six or so months had been getting the shop going, knowing that his godson could take care of himself.

Well, that may have been physically, but Sirius had promised himself that he would watch his godson's emotions after that last battle and he had broken it.

The only thing he could do at the moment was to go and see Harry. So he would.

Half an hour later found him banging on Harry's door. Normally, he would have apparated into Harry's house, but for some reason hadn't been able to this morning. If Sirius hadn't known better, he would have thought the house was sad.

While he was doing this, Remus was checking the status of Harry's wards, a job that Sirius wouldn't have bothered to do now that panic was setting in.

"Harry!" Sirius shouted over and over again. For once he was glad that Harry had settled out in the country and there were no neighbors to pry into why he and Remus were here making such a racket.

"Siri?"

He turned to face Remus, who wore a grave expression.

"The wards... he's changed the wards. Like what it was like when he first bought it."

Sirius' eyes widened. Why would Harry need to do that? Nothing in the brief moments he'd spent scanning Harry's letters had indicated he was going anywhere other than home after the game and party the team's coach was holding, and certainly not for a long time at that if he set the security like it was.

They had floo'd to Ireland first, sure that Harry was still in Dublin with the rest of the team. Instead, they were horrified to find that he had never shown up for the party. Then had come the news that they had had a special ceremony last night and that they had felt bad that no one had showed up for Harry. Up until that point, Sirius had been trying to console himself with the thought that at least Ron and Hermione had been there. The two were Harry's best friends and had been for the last ten years or so. Why hadn't they been there?

Sirius stared at the door forlornly for a minute. Then he perked up a little when he remembered a little trick from his Marauding days and that he could pick the lock. Transfiguring a pebble, he worked the thin piece of metal into the lock to unlatch it.

Succeeding, he opened the door and his heart stopped.

The house was empty and Sirius understood that the house *was* sad. There weren't any traces of Harry to be found, and if Sirius hadn't been there before he would have thought that Harry had never set foot in this place. He searched the entire house and found the same emptiness but for one closet. Stored inside was Harry's precious Firebolt. He hadn't given it up even though there had been a newer, faster model because he held the broom dear, but here it lay abandoned like Harry must have felt last night.

Sirius couldn't turn from the sight, even as he broke into sobs and crumpled to the floor.

******

Ron stared at the owl. Well, he was actually staring at the letter attached to the owl's leg - the letter he had sent off not a day ago to his best friend. He felt terrible about yelling at Harry, and had written him in hopes that he would forgive Ron. It was just that he and Hermione had finally had a chance to spend the night together in a long while and he had wanted it to just be the two of them. He loved Harry like another brother, but he *loved* Hermione.

He knew that he probably wouldn't have written the letter if it hadn't been for Hermione asking why Harry hadn't shown up for dinner that night a couple of days ago. Ron had stared at her for a very long moment before asking her what all that was about. After listening to his wife explain that she had hoped Harry would enjoy a nice, quiet dinner with the two of them, he had felt an inch high. He remembered seeing his friend with both his hands full, and even though he had been extremely distracted, he knew he'd seen flowers in one of them. And then he remembered that he hadn't even sent his friend a birthday present the day before.

Feeling like a first-class heel, he'd sent off his letter in the hope that his friend would forgive him.

He closed his eyes and opened them to find Pig still fluttering in his spastic way. Why had Harry sent Pig back with the letter unopened? Even when they had been fighting the last time, Pig had always shown up with a small letter from Harry even when he was angry.

Officially worried at the lack of response, he plucked the letter from Pig's leg and sat down at the kitchen table. Just as he did so, the owl that delivered The Daily Prophet swooped in and dropped its parcel before taking to the sky again. Unrolling the parchment, Ron went into shock.

Bracing himself, he made himself read the entire article and almost choked when he read that Harry had been the only person not surrounded by his family and friends.

Merlin, but what had he done?

******

Five years later

Sirius wasn't ever going to give up searching for Harry.

Ever.

Even though Harry seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth, there was no way he was giving up on his godson. He had already failed the man twice and there was no way he'd make it a third time.

He had searched the wizarding world for a while before realizing that if Harry had really wanted to disappear like Sirius thought he did, he probably had gone into the Muggle world. Since he was an adult, the only way to track him was to put a charm on him, and they hadn't done that. No owl reached him, so he must have charmed himself.

When what seemed like the hundredth owl Sirius had sent came back with its unopened letter, he had collapsed and nothing had broken the depression that descended over him. Even now he was only half the person he'd been before that fateful day in August when he realized that his world had crashed.

Right now he was searching Surrey again, just on the off chance that Harry had hid here even if it reminded him of the Dursleys. Sirius had already spent several days scanning the entire area and now it looked like this particular place was another dud.

He was about to step off the curb when he noticed a sheet hanging by a straggly piece of sellotape on the side of the bus stop. Walking closer to it, Sirius drew in a breath when he saw Harry's green eyes staring back at him from a colored plaque half covered by the ripped job wanted notice. Tearing his eyes away from the picture, he quickly read the paper and wished that he hadn't.

In Memory of James Evans

Who sacrificed his life

to save Jenny Barton, 9,

Matilda Barton, 7, and

Joseph Adamson, 7, in this

spot, 31.July.2006 from

certain death

Sirius couldn't breathe. No, this wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to find Harry and he would be able to make everything all right, make everything better than it had been. He would bring Harry home to meet his own godchildren, the appointment made in absentia by Ron and Hermione for their two children.

In his grief, Sirius never noticed the streak of magic that erupted from his hand. And he never noticed the car as he stepped back off the curb in his haste to get away from the plaque.

******

Remus eyed the black letter the owl was carrying. He knew that it was to inform him of someone's death and he dreaded opening it to find that they had lost Harry. Sirius was out searching for his godson to the point where Remus was worried about what must be left of his sanity.

His hand trembling, he took the letter and slowly opened it.

The scream of grief that erupted from _Flying Dreams_ shattered the front windows of shops up and down Diagon Alley.

Later that night, Remus was staring at the plaque on the side of the bus stop for what seemed the thousandth time. He had apparated here in the hopes of finding Sirius alive - that maybe the letter had been an awful mistake - but it wasn't meant to be. Once the street had cleared as night rolled across the sky, he had noticed something he had overlooked earlier in his quest of finding out exactly what had happened.

Then he had seen the emerald green eyes peering back at him and all movement had ceased since.

In the back of his mind, Remus knew he should move, judging by the strange looks he had been receiving before everybody and their brother went home to their families. But he couldn't.

"That was a sad bit of business, that," a strange voice said next to him.

Remus was startled out of his thoughts and turned to see a man not much older than him, but definitely a Muggle.

"What...?" he managed to croak out.

The man nodded at the plaque. "That. He was a nice feller. Never talked much at all, but always helping the kiddies and animals around here. He were studying to be a doctor, I think."

Remus was quietly trying to process the information. Harry had been what?

The other man didn't notice his silence and continued talking.

"From what the witnesses say that morning, that young man were waiting at the bus stop - he lived over that - " he pointed across the streets to a bookstore - "shop and must have been heading to school. Those little kids were caught up in the crowd and somehow ended up in the street and the bus... People say they saw a strange flash of light - much like yesterday now. The next moment it were headed towards those kiddies and then bam! That young man was out of the stop real quick like and had tossed those children out of the way."

Remus tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. Was this why Sirius hadn't paid attention?

He didn't say anything; he just nodded at the man and turned back to the plaque.

"You knew him, didn't you?"

He nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

Remus couldn't say anything. Harry had been twenty-six, too young to die like that. Hell, Sirius was too young to have died like he did.

He wanted to scream.

He was alone again, and this time he knew that no one was going to come back. And this time he couldn't blame Sirius, even if that really hadn't worked the first time. No, he was partially to blame for this. If he and Sirius hadn't been so involved with the shop, they would have had time for Harry and made him feel loved enough that he wouldn't have left to live only the next few years.

And how ironic that it had happened on Harry's birthday. That was what bothered Remus the most. Was Fate that cruel that she had to take him on his birthday, when he should be celebrating with whatever friends he may have made, even if *they,* his old ones, had forgotten it?

He touched the plaque, his hand shaking so much he couldn't control it. The cool metal was smooth and not at all weather-roughened. His fingertips glided over the raised plane of Harry's face, taking care brushing over the smooth curve of cheek so like his mother's. Remus touched the half-hidden scar on his forehead and suddenly everything broke.

Slumping to the ground, he curled up in a foetal position, grieving for both this boy who never had a childhood, and his best friend who had given everything up for him.

******

Ron shifted uncomfortably under the stares of those gathered at this place. It wasn't the place where he had expected to meet Harry again, but he had blown every chance with his friend. As it was, he was standing in front of his family and the few friends Harry'd had at his graveside.

They were holding a joint ceremony, seeing as how Ron's father had managed to arrange that Sirius would be buried next to him. He wasn't sure just how involved it had been, but his father was exhausted from dealing with the local government, no matter it was Muggle.

He was trying to think of something to say, but all that would come out was a mumbled "I'm sorry" over and over again.

His two sons were crawling beside Hermione, whom Ron hadn't been able to console at all since the news had reached their little house. They had named Harry their children's godfather even with him missing. Hell, their oldest was Alexander Heron Weasley. They had decided to use Harry's full first name as his middle name when they had seen him, the hair on his head almost as black as Harry's and just as messy.

Once the ceremony was over, Ron went and stood off to one side, not wanting to talk to anyone, including his family. His mother had tried to comfort him, but all it had done was to remind him that he hadn't been the friend he thought he was. It was like fourth year all over again, but with an unhappy ending this time.

He observed everyone that was gathered and saw that Remus wasn't handling this very well. He was worried about the older man. While Ron had known Sirius very well, he'd never been as close to him as Harry and Remus. And now Remus was alone once more.

That made him think of Harry being alone for almost four years. From what all of them had gotten from the few people that had known Harry in the neighborhood, he would talk with them, but had never offered a lot of information on himself but to a few. Those few, lucky people to have known Harry - or James as he had gone by - had told them that he was a serious young man who kept to himself even with them. The only thing unusual was the snowy owl he'd kept, saying that he had nursed it back to health and it hadn't wanted to leave when he went to release it. Ron had gone to the animal sanctuary where they had taken the bird after "James'" death and found Hedwig snoozing in one of the trees. When it had woken, the bird had flown down to Ron and perched on his shoulder and was even now resting in a tree above Harry's grave.

How terrible had it been for Harry with just Hedwig to keep him company? Ron couldn't imagine going through what Harry must have, from the time after the World Cup game to his death just over a year ago. And yet he knew that Harry had kept on living, no matter how alone he actually was. That was the type of man he was - to plow through everything even when the entire world was crashing down around him.

But to find out that Harry had made friends with only three other people in the almost four years he'd been living in this place.... Ron wasn't sure what to make of that development. Part of him reasoned that because he'd felt abandoned by his friends and family, it was doubly hard this next time. His chest clenched when he remembered that he had played an *awfully* big part in that. Hell, Malfoy probably would have been a better friend that Ron had ever been to Harry. He had been jealous of the attention his friend had gotten both before and after the war. He hadn't believed him when Harry had tried to explain about the Tournament in fourth year, and hadn't spoken to him for a couple of months when he found that Harry had refused to date his sister (a wise choice later down the line, but Ron had been too blind to see it). And then this final time, when he had, yet again, been the cause of his friend's pain when Ron really hadn't wanted to be around him at that particular moment.

Now all he could think about was that Fate had no mercy.

******

Remus wandered off when it was just him and Ron's family. He had been in this cemetery before when he'd been a child. In fact, this was next to the woods where he had been bitten. He had been around five, but really didn't remember much about that night. The day before, however, was still clear in his mind. He and his family had come to visit relatives that lived nearby, and his father, an avid ghost hunter and all-around eccentric wizard, had come to the cemetery to see if there were any Muggle ghosts around.

That had been before he learned life was not all happiness and roses.

He stopped when he reached the high fence surrounding one of the graves. A stone angel peered down from atop the massive headstone, the wings carved into a comforting embrace around it. But it was the expression on the face that had caught Remus' eye. The angel was smiling sadly, with a look in its eyes he'd last seen on Harry. Only when he had been talking to Sirius about anything from the shop to quidditch had Harry *not* worn a look like that.

Harry's eyes had been like that since his last year at Hogwarts, when they had learned Voldemort had attacked a group of students in Hogsmeade, killing everyone and the four teachers that had accompanied them. Harry had mourned each one when he had woken up from the vision of that scene, and Remus hadn't been able to imagine the grief and guilt he had suffered when he'd been pulled into that scene by his connection to Voldemort.

It was one of the few times that even Sirius had been somber when they had learned that Severus Snape had been one of the teachers with the group. The man had put up a valiant fight, taking down most of the Death Eaters around until the Dark Lord himself had shown up and taken out the traitor to his cause. It was only later, after the war was over, that Remus and Sirius had learned Snape had been tutoring Harry for the past couple of years and that the two had become friends.

Remus looked at the angel some more before reading the marker. 

David Michael Evans 1937 - 1978

Marigold Rose Heron Evans 1938 - 1978

Beloved parents of Petunia and Lily

Like at the plaque where Harry had been killed, he reached a shaking hand to the angel. On his journey over the face, he didn't see the strange coloured patch of metal until it was too late.

Tbc


	2. Picking Up the Pieces

Disclaimer: See Part 1.

AN: Thanks to for reviewing. It doesn't matter if I get a whole lot of reviews for this one. I was trying for something completely different from my other 'dark' stories. Each part will abruptly change gears.

Heavy slash in the next part. Just a little bitty bit in this one.

Part 2

Picking Up the Pieces

Sirius opened his eyes and wondered if he was dreaming. Harry was smiling at him with a sad look on his face, his green eyes happy and tragic all at the same time.

"Sirius?"

Yes, he was definitely dreaming. It sounded like Harry, and he knew that he wouldn't ever hear Harry's voice ever again. It was a dream and nothing else and he'd wake up and find that he was back at the bus stop and not wherever he was now with its flowers and gentle breeze, making the tops of the trees sway slightly.

He blinked again when he looked to his right to see Remus sleeping peacefully.

"Harry?" he croaked out.

Harry nodded before touching Sirius' cheek lightly with warm fingertips.

"I have someone who'd like to see you," Harry said before standing up and walking just out of his line-of-sight. When he came back, Sirius knew that he was dreaming. Before him stood James as he last saw him. Twinkling blue eyes were dancing with joy underneath a shaggy mop of black hair like his son's.

"Paddy!"

Sirius was engulfed in a hug that certainly felt real.

"Wha - ?"

A slim redhead came up beside them. "James, we need to explain things to Sirius. Remus won't wake up for a while, so we have plenty of time for a reunion afterwards."

It sounded like Lily and looked like her as well, but Sirius was trying his hardest to not believe what lay before him.

"Sirius?"

Harry again.

The young man he'd seen grow from a skinny boy to a well-formed man sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"I know it's a little hard to believe at the moment, but once Remus wakes up we'll all be together again like we were supposed to be."

Sirius looked at him in confusion. "Supposed to be together?"

James nodded. "When we were killed, it wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. We weren't supposed to be killed. *I* was the one who was to kill Voldemort and then we would have been together. Instead, Voldemort decided to take the prophesy of his being killed into his own hands to stop his own destruction."

Lily continued. "When he killed first James and then I, all the power behind that prophesy transferred to Harry."

"Prophesy?" Sirius was confused. He hadn't heard of a prophesy, unless Dumbledore had never heard of it, or had never bothered to tell the rest of them of it.

James nodded. "Set down by Merlin three thousand years ago. It was lost around the time of the founding of Hogwarts, and that's why none of us ever knew of it. Since we've been here, Lily and I have been trying to research into why it was lost, but we've kept on hitting roadblocks. It's almost as if someone is trying to stop us from finding out."

All four of them were silent, leaving the gentle sighs of Remus in his sleep and the soft breeze flowing through the trees to be the only accompaniment to their reveries. From what James and Lily had been subtly telling him – by not saying a word – was that they had definitely come to terms with their deaths. Sirius had a feeling that James, in particular, had found himself caught in the same cycle of guilt Sirius found himself drowning in, but for quite different – and maybe the same – circumstances. He leaned into Harry a little more and the younger man wrapped his other arm around him in a gentle hug.

He had missed this, the quiet communication that had always been between the two. There were two halves of a whole, separated only by an accident of fate and time. Deep within himself, he hoped and wished that Harry had been able to make some kind of life for himself during those years that they had been separated the second time and had been able to move on from all the mistakes Sirius and the rest of them had made.

That led him to another thought –  

"How...?" Sirius tried to form his question.

"How did you die?" Harry asked, understanding just what his godfather had been trying to say.

He nodded, dreading the answer. He didn't remember anything that had led to his dying (which he was quietly freaking inside about), but he hoped it had been quick and painless – the way he had always wanted to go, especially after the twelve-year slow-death he'd been subjected to in Azkaban.

"Same way I did, Siri," Harry answered. "Except it was a car. Pretty much instantaneous and hurt-less."

"And Remy?" There was a touch of hope in the slightly-roughened velvet voice of Sirius Black. Remus had been through enough hurt in his life, and his death should have been so much better.

Harry winced. "He touched silver."

"What!" Sirius pulled away just a bit.

"It was an accident, Paddy," James said. "After we died, Petunia decided to be spiteful and put a band of silver on the angel on top of her and Lily's parents' grave. Remus touched it." He turned to Lily, who was beginning to rant.

"It's just like her to have done that and make it blend in with the rest of the thing."

"So it's just the five of us?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head. "No. From what we've gathered, there're two more."

"Ron?"

"No," Harry said sadly. "He and Hermione aren't joining us this time." He gave a soft sigh. "Besides, they need to be with their children. We didn't want to separate another family if it wasn't absolutely necessary."

Sirius nodded. He could understand that, especially judging by Harry's going along with the decision of his best friends continuing with the lives they were already leading. He would even go along with it, even though he had been very mad with the two of them for a long time after Harry had disappeared. Especially with Ron, who had shown up that second day after the World Cup and had been panicking over not being able to reach Harry.

_Sirius had been so tempted to throttle the man when Ron had explained what had happened a month ago. He had been furious that his godson's own best friend would treat him this way and not even attempt to heal the breach until his wife said something about it._

_Strangely, it had also made him think, when he wasn't frantically searching for Harry, that his godson should have had better friends. Friends who would have taken the time to listen when he really needed it and not when it was convenient for them. He knew that he was a big factor in what had happened and he hadn't been able to forgive himself._

Now, looking at Harry with his shining green eyes and tousled black hair, smiling happily at him, Sirius knew that he had his godson's forgiveness.

All four of them were quiet for a bit, watching the easy breathing of Remus. Sirius studied him and noticed that his friend no longer wore the lines on his face from his condition and his hair was the rich golden color it had been when they were in school.

Looking down at himself, he noticed that his hands were smooth again - the hands of a seducer as Lily had told him their seventh year. In Azkaban they had been rough from where he had scraped over the walls searching for an escape, and afterwards, when he was on the run they had become calloused from being a dog much of the time. He was still wondering over these changes and thinking about what else might have changed when Remus started waking up.

Half an hour later, they had explained as much of the situation as they could to Remus, and were sitting there talking about Hogwarts when a beautiful _Ladien_ walked into their field. Sirius was awestruck by her, not as much as her beauty as the expression she wore. Her eyes were like Dumbledore's when he was especially pleased with himself. Watching her, he knew that she was not human, but she was one of the legendary goddesses sent to guide the dead to their next life, a fact that was both scary and awe-inspiring at the same time.

"I have brought you all here to give you the life you were all meant to live," she said. The _Ladien_'s voice was like pleasant bells ringing on a bright, summer Sunday afternoon. The rich tones echoed slightly and seemed to be a blend of notes. "This time, Fate will not interfere with you," she promised. "You will be in a time with no war, no hate towards the wizarding world, and you will be with others that you know from this life. It will not be exactly like it is now, but it will help you adjust to your new life."

She smiled brightly at them. Even though the five of them were still trying to understand what she was saying, she vanished from before them and the field started melting away.

***

When Sirius awoke, he found himself in a richly decorated room. Dark red velvet hangings were draped over the four-poster bed and windows, and were tastefully paired with a subtle gold color in the walls. Movement next to him drew his attention and he looked to find Harry next to him, and on the other side of him lay James. Both of them were young, around the age of eleven. Looking down at himself, he found that he was around that age as well. He looked to the other side when he felt a breath on the back of his neck. A sharp gasp escaped him when he found a young Severus Snape half-curled next to him.

He was contemplating what was going on when the door opened to reveal a young Remus and Lily standing before a much younger Dumbledore.

"Wake up, sleepy heads!" Remus' young voice piped through the air before he ran at the bed and leaped on top of Severus.  "Come on, Sev! Granddad says it's time for breakfast."

Sirius looked at Remus until the other boy turned to him. "What's the matter, Siri? Did you have the dream again?"

He didn't know what to do other than nod.

"Well, Heron will know what to do. You know he's the only one that can make that bad dream go away. Although, don't tell Jaime like you did last time," he whispered the last part. "I don't think he could handle Heron taking the dream again if he knew. You know they share dreams sometimes, being twins and all."

Sirius nodded again, figuring that Heron was Harry and Jaime was James. He knew instinctively who was who by the way Harry was curled on his side facing Sirius, while James lay in the sprawl he been most often found in while at Hogwarts.

"Rem?"

Remus looked at him as he poked at Severus or Seb or whatever Sirius was supposed to call him.

"What day is today?"

"July 31st. Your birthday, silly! and your twin's and those twins - " he nodded his head at the two boys to Sirius' right.

**

Sirius smiled while trying to hide his confusion. He found it odd that he now shared Harry's birthday – they all did. "Just making sure," he replied, making sure that he didn't show any of the confusion he was feeling. He looked over at the two laying next to him on the right of the bed. It was the first time he had ever seen Harry looking that peaceful, other than when he had been a baby. 

There was something about his face in repose that made his heart tighten at the beauty in it. Was this what everything that had gone on before had been leading to?

The _Ladien_ had said that they were going to a life where there was no war... was this it? If all he had to worry about was the things his father had told him about in his previous life, then he could be content with the way things turned out. He, and not the conditions of what war brought to the world, would be the one to make the decisions of what his life was going to turn out like. He would be able to keep Harry (or Heron as Remus had called him) safe like he had wanted to, keeping their souls together as they should have always been.

Hell, he could even overlook the fact that he and Snape were twins, let alone related at all if this was going to be better than the life that he had been living.

He could be safe here.

Well. If this was what Destiny had in mind, he was going to go along with it.

**

As soon as he had made his decision, the 'dream' he had woken up from faded from his mind, along with all the sadness that had come with it. Instead, he snuggled deeper into the covers and closer to Heron, who turned slightly in his waking slumber into Sirius' embrace, each of them content to wrapped in the arms of their best friend.

******

Sixteen-year-old Sirius laughed as his twin, Sevastian, glared at him behind the green goop that covered his face. Next to him stood his best friend, Heron, who was trying to hold his laughter in but odd snorts were escaping from behind his hand.

"Siri!" Remus was yelling at his friend. "That wasn't funny!"

Lily hit the amber-eyed boy lightly on the arm. "Oh hush, you. It was quite funny."

Remus glared at the lone girl in their group before hustling his friend off to get cleaned up.

Sirius and Harry - as Heron liked to be called - looked at each other before snickering. As they finished laughing, Sirius looked at his best friend and was glad that he had gotten the other boy to laugh. It was quite rare for the boy to do so - his solemn personality was so at odds with his twin's. Jaime was much like Sirius, as well as the other two boys. When the four of them were off making another prank and daring escape, Harry and Lily were more, often than not, found off on their own. Lily was usually holed up in the library, to which all the boys teased her (and Jaime defending her because he was quite keen on her).

On the other hand, the other boys often found Harry in his painting room, bringing to life such beautiful pieces of art that made the soul weep. Their mentor, Albus, would leave the paintings as they were, refusing to enchant them to move like the other pictures that hung on the walls of the large house. He was often found to be saying that it would ruin what Harry was trying to say in the swirl of oil paints and brushstrokes.

Sirius was always awed when he saw his friend's latest work, although the last one had been distressing to look at. The canvas had been painted a dark red that reminded Sirius of the dried blood on Harry's temple when the other boy had been thrown by the wild horse they'd been attempting to tame the muggle way – it had been found wandering in one of the fields outside of the village by the old Riddle homestead, and many had agreed it had been a bad omen for everyone knew that the Riddles weren't the best people to associate with and had been driven from the village a half-century ago.

Added to the canvas in little spots was this grotesque shade of green that eerily echoed the green of Harry's eyes, but was quite different at the same time. Sirius wasn't sure how to describe it, but there was something about that particular shade that he did not like. What had been the worst for Sirius to look at the picture, though, had been the suggestion that there were people hidden underneath the green paint, as if they were being consumed by something so terribly awful that they would never escape.

That painting had made Jaime go crazy - he and Lily both.

Sirius shook his head as he was brought back into the present by a sharp tap upside his head. He looked into the green eyes that differentiated his best friend from his twin, before moving his eyes to the strange, lightning shaped scar left from the horse accident. Ever since the accident, Harry had retreated into himself more and more. Occasionally he would be as open as he had been, but even when they were younger he had always been the one content to sit back and watch everybody until he made his own decisions. At this point, Sirius and Jaime (and sometimes Lily) were the only ones who were able to get Harry to do anything other than his painting.

His reverie was broken when a sharp elbow pressed into his ribs. Looking to the right, he found Harry grinning widely at him before noticing that everyone else had disappeared.

Sirius' eyebrows lowered slightly in confusion. "Where'd everybody go?"

Harry's smile became gentler and much more softer. "Jaime and Lily decided to go somewhere quiet - "

"Which means," Sirius interrupted, "that they're going to find some hidey hole to snog."

The other boy nodded. "Same thing with Remy and Sev."

Sirius grinned. He had found the idea that his twin was in love with his best friend hilarious, seeing as it was just a few months after Jaime realized that Lily was quite beautiful, and he didn't have to waste his time mooning over the King's daughter, which was pointless anyway. Jaime-my-name-is-'Jameson'-no-more-of-those-silly-little-nicknames-please had then proceeded to woo her most industriously for the next month, most of the time embarrassing himself - and his friends - when the occasion arose. Sevastian, on the other hand, had realized his feelings for his friend after Remus had shyly read a moving poem at one of the little parties thrown by whoever's turn it was in the small village. Remus was the dreamer of the group, and it had hardly been surprising to learn that he would be reciting some of his work at one of them. After all, Dumbledore encouraged them to play to their strengths, a lesson he taught to all of the children in the village in the hopes that they would, in turn, teach it to their children when the time came.

That week it had been the Gryffindors' turn, and Sirius had been off playing with Harry and Roderick - the eldest of all the village children at eighteen and the first son of two out of nine children - the three of them slipping off to the stables to play with the young griffins just lately weaned. The Gryffindors were famous for taming the wild beasts, which magic alone could not do. Roderick was always saying that his family was going to be famous 'round the world for more than just rearing griffins. (Sirius laughed when the other boy had announced he had already named his children - Malon, Becca, and Godric (after his brother, who'd just turned five).)

The three of them had just staggered into the salon where most of the village was gathered to find a rousing round of applause for their friend, a shocked Sevastian in the middle of it squished not-quite-politely next to his best friend. An hour later, Sirius and Harry were on the way home when they stumbled across a passionate and sloppy first kiss between the two of them, startling everybody within a half-mile of the spot. From that point on, Remus and Sevastian had made it their first duty to find someplace not-so-easily findable to do their more 'private' talking.

For most of the time, now, it was usually just Sirius and Harry and that was the way he liked it. It gave him a warm feeling to just sit with his best friend for a while. Sometimes they didn't even have to talk, enjoying long, comfortable silences that would have driven Sirius mad even if he had been with his twin. Like now, for instance, when they were sitting in the field behind the horse barn, watching the birds rise and settle in search of food among the harvested wheat. He was comfortable with himself when he was with Harry. The nightmares that had haunted him since he could remember went away when he shared a bed with the other boy. Just hearing Harry's soft breathing was enough to call him from the terrible images the night terrors brought with them.

The two boys stayed in the field long after dinner was called, content to watch the sun sink lower into the sky. Sirius could feel the heat emanating from Harry's body as they sat side by side underneath the huge elm tree that stood tall in the corner of the field. The elm was said to guard all that sought shelter from it, and Sirius was sure that it understood how close he and the other boy actually were at times like this. It was almost as if their souls were like the puzzle pieces Sirius had found fascinating when they were younger, and that they fit perfectly together right next to one another. He felt it the most with Harry, but every once in a while he could feel it with the rest of his friends.

It was Harry he loved most, though, so the connection was much stronger than with anyone else.

******

From the time when he was little, Sirius had known that there was something he could trust about Heron of Rivenfold. When they had been introduced at the age of five when Heron and Jameson had arrived after their parents had been taken while defending their home, Sirius had taken one look at the twins and had been captivated by the smaller boy's green eyes. He had been surprised to find that the smaller boy was actually the elder of the two, but it had made little difference to him when he had seen the way Heron protected his younger brother from the prying eyes of the villagers as they tried to find out more about the visitors.

Sirius had seen the shy spark within the green eyes, but the other boy had foregone protecting himself in favor of his brother, an action that had gained his respect. He may have liked to fight with his own twin, but there was still a deep-seated bond between the two of them that cut their fighting when an outside force threatened one of them.

That had also been around the time that Dumbledore had arrived with his two grandchildren. The older man was a roaming tutor who had taken in his son's daughter and son when times were hard. Sirius and Sevastian's parents hadn't minded taking in two more children, not when it had afforded them their own sons being given one of the best magical educations in the world. Dumbledore was accounted a genius by most of the small magical community they lived in, and if there was the chance that one of the grandchildren would develop more personal ties to the family when they were older it would be wonderful. Sirius had ignored all of that in favor of learning just who all these new children were and making friends with them. He had never really thought of he and Sevastian acting so much different than most people expected them to, but it was only with the introduction of Heron and Jameson that it brought home that no matter how much someone looked like someone else, it was their souls that were much different and made them that way.

Even now, he could still remember how wonderful it had been to meet the other set of twins and learn all about them. The moment that Sirius had shook hands with Heron, he had felt a tiny little spark deep within him. It had told him that there was something about this boy that let him know that they would always be bound together in some way or another.

That feeling had grown stronger the first time he had awoken to discover that he hadn't had a nightmare the night before. He could distantly remember it starting, but then a sense of peace had flowed over him, and the troubling dream had stopped before it had gotten bad. Sirius had tried to think of why he actually hadn't had the nightmare when he noticed that he was warm. Each morning he had always woken up with the covers tossed onto the floor, often having ripped them in order to get out from under their restrictions. Now, he was warm and still tucked into the covers the nursery maid had gently wrapped around him before she herself left for bed.

At first he thought it was his brother who he then felt wrapped around him, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sevastian standing at the door, watching carefully. Sirius then saw that while the boy in bed with him had black hair, it was short and messy.

Then green eyes had sleepily opened and the world fell into place for the first time.

Tbc...


	3. When All the Pieces Fit

Disclaimer: See Part 1.

AN: The last part of the story. Thanks to everyone that reviewed – they encouraged me to finish this story. I hope you liked it.

Part 3

All is Right When the Pieces Fit

It was one day just before Christmas when it hit Sirius that there was a reason that he and Harry fit so well together. He had been watching Sev and Remus sitting together in the corner of the main parlor they had claimed for themselves. The two boys were deep in a discussion that Sirius had no clue what was going on, but it was their intense faces of concentration that had caught his eye.

The scene had made him think just how he and Harry actually acted when they were together. Each understood the other boy so well that they often could finish the other's sentences, almost to the point where people thought that they were twins with the other rather than their own, natural twins. It was only when strangers in town saw all of the boys together that they realized they were mistaken, often pointing out such a mistake to the boys and making them slightly uncomfortable. Sirius really hadn't wondered why until now just why. 

He didn't want Harry to be his *brother.*

******

"So what do you think I should do?"

Sirius was hanging around the Gryffindor stables, watching as Roderick was grooming one of the tamer griffins the next day. He had been unable to sleep, and even after the nightmares had started, he had refused Harry's help in getting over them. Instead, he had spent most of the night down in the small library Lily usually resided in during the day. He had searched for some books that would tell him just what was going on, but nothing he'd found had helped at all.

The morning had come with no answers and a hurt Harry. Sirius had been unable to tell his friend just what was going on, and while it pained him, had told the other boy that he needed to be alone today. Still, seeing those green eyes filled with such sadness was breaking Sirius' heart even as he didn't know what to do with the rest of it.

He knew that Harry was going to spend all of the time that Sirius was away in his painting room. It was where he always went when he needed to lick his wounds.

When he got back, Sirius knew that it was going to take some time for him to explain to Harry just why he had needed to be alone, even if he didn't tell the other boy everything that was going on in his head. Maybe he would even enlist the help of Sev and Remus, the two of them owing Sirius a couple of favors when they had been hiding from Dumbledore when it was time for their lessons and they wanted a quick snog instead. Besides, who better to help Sirius explain things than Remus, who was the smartest of them all when it came to things like this. Sure, Lily was book smart, but Remus knew a lot more things about the heart than the rest of them.

"Sirius?"

He looked over at Roderick, who had finished taking care of the griffin and was watching him with a sympathetic expression on his face.

"Yes?"

"I think that you should tell Harry everything."

"Everything?" Sirius wasn't sure about that.

Roderick nodded. "He watches you, you know, when you're not paying attention."

Sirius wasn't sure where this was going. "Yes, and Sev does the same thing to me as well."

The Gryffindor boy shook his head. "No, you stubborn ass. He *watches* you, as if he would be lost if you ever left."

Shock ran through Sirius. Did Harry feel the same way about Sirius? He wondered if the two of them were trying to figure all of this out without help from the other and they needed each other.

******

Sirius made his way to Harry's paint room to stand on the outside of the door wondering if he should knock. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, and it made him nervous. The fluttering in his stomach seemed to exacerbate the feeling even more when he thought of just being with Harry.

Bracing himself, he knocked on the door. On the other side, he could hear a slight shuffling, as if Harry didn't really want to be disturbed. Sirius was almost at the point where he didn't want to interrupt his friend when Harry opened the door.

Sirius mentally berated himself at putting such a look on his love's face. And he did love Harry. After all, there were so many things that Sirius loved about the other boy. From the way Harry took the time to make sure that the others were happy, even when they didn't realize he was doing anything like that, to the way he gently handled the horses even when they were being their most stubborn, Harry had made his way deep into Sirius' heart to stay.

"Harry?"

The green-eyed boy gave him a cautious look before answering, "Yes?"

Sirius shuffled his feet before stepping slightly forward. "May I come in?"

Harry hesitated before pulling the door a little wider to let Sirius into the room. As Sirius walked in, he noticed a new canvas set up by the eastern window - the one that faced the field the two of them spent most of their time outdoors in. For a moment he was tempted to see what Harry was painting, but controlled himself. He knew that the other boy didn't really like it when other people saw his paintings before they were finished. Sirius could respect that, even if his curiosity sometimes drove him made for want of finding out the subject of said painting.

"I'm sorry about this morning," Sirius said when he noticed they had both been silent for a long, awkward moment. "I was just... confused."

"Confused?" Harry asked in a soft voice. "About what? And what about last night? I thought...."

Sirius moved towards Harry and gently brushed the other boy's cheek with the back of his hand. "And about those as well. Harry...." He broke off as he tried to think of a way to say what he wanted to tell him, but Sirius was drawing a blank.

A little part of his brain was wondering if he should just take the chance of kissing Harry and damn the consequences. And the more he thought about it, the more that little part wanted to do it. Sirius was torn between listening to that thought and feeling like a total dunce for just standing there as Harry fidgeted.

Toss it, Sirius thought.

He leaned forward and gently smoothed one hand down Harry's cheek to cup his chin. Sirius rubbed his thumb lightly over Harry's lips as they parted in confusion.

"Sirius?"

"Shh," Sirius whispered before leaning in further to brush Harry's lips with the softest of touches. "I just want - " 

Another soft kiss. 

" - you to know - " 

And another. 

" - that I - " 

A deeper kiss this time. There was no way he wasn't going to give up these touches as Harry's lips pressed back. Sirius knew he was just going to have to let it all out.

" - love - "

Harry pulled back slightly before Sirius could kiss him again. "I love you, too, Sirius."

Blue eyes widened in shock for a second before the closed partway. "Love you," he whispered.

Sirius wondered if this was a dream for the briefest of moments, before Harry tugged his mouth back down to his. The touch of Harry's lips brought Sirius back to reality, and he pressed just a bit harder against the sweet mouth.

An hour later, Sirius and Harry were standing at the window, Harry in front and locked within Sirius' arms, the smaller boy's fingers entwined with his, looking out over the tree where they liked to sit. They had spent a great deal of time kissing, but they had each pulled back at the idea of doing anything more at the moment. Sirius knew that they weren't ready for it, and had been relieved when Harry had agreed, saying that they should figure out what they should do next.

Sirius had suggested they first start by telling their twins and their respective lovers that they were together, and go from there. They should be understanding enough to accept Sirius and Harry being together, and then the six of them would be able to tell everyone else from there. Before anyone else knew, however, Sirius wanted to tell Roderick. His friend had been the one to finally get Sirius to actually do something, and deserved to know the news before the rest of the village.

There was a loud bang from the floor below, a sign that Jamie had come home for the day from where he was studying with Roderick's uncle. It was only a matter of time before Sev and Remus followed, and Lily would drift out from her library, where she had probably been holed up.

The dinner chime sounded, and Sirius and Harry exchanged a glance as they finally moved. Sirius touched his forehead to Harry's for a second, studying his green eyes for an intense moment. Harry smiled tremblingly, reassuringly back at Sirius, who brushed his lips against the ones just below his own.

"Ready?" Sirius asked when he pulled back from the soft kiss.

Harry nodded. "As long as I have you beside me, I think I'm ready for anything."

******

Sirius didn't want to move. He was in a warm bed with Harry snuggled into his side, their bare skin touching and moving against each other in sleep and contentment. No, moving wasn't a choice Sirius was going to made, especially not with the sound of the wind blowing outside the window. A chill ran down Sirius' spine when he realized that the blizzard that had hit yesterday was still going strong, before he remembered that they didn't have to go anywhere today, and indeed, the rest of the week. 

No, honeymoons were made for not moving from bed.

The road to this point hadn't been *as* smooth as Sirius and Harry had hoped. There had been some protests against their being together, more than what had been raised when Sev and Remus had announced they were a couple. Several of the village girls had complained that there should be a low that two such handsome young men couldn't be allowed to like each other. Plus, there was the family that lived at the outskirts of the village that said it was unnatural, and that their culture said they would go to hell.

Sirius had ignored them all, especially the family - he didn't like them to begin with, with their strange notions that magic was bad. He always thought that it was because they didn't have any themselves, and they were jealous that a lot of the village could use magic. The girls he thought were just being silly and jealous, since neither Harry nor himself had given any indication that they liked them.

Instead, they had focused on the family that surrounded them. Their twins had been enthusiastic in their congratulations, Jamie more so that Sev, but both of them had welcomed their twin's choice even more into the family they had been. It had been one thing when they were just close friends, but now there was something more to the relationship that made the bond they shared much stronger.

Roderick had also been effusive in his congratulations. He had spent quite a bit of time teasing Sirius on taking so long to confront his own feelings, and teasing Harry about not being as sure as *he* had been about Sirius' feelings. Then Roderick, with the two eldest of his younger sisters, had thrown the two their own little party. They had invited all of their friends, and, by the time the party ended, everyone that had arrived single had found someone - at least a date, and at most their eventual lover. Including Roderick.

Sirius had to grin when he remembered the look on his friend's face when he had shown up the week after the party with this huge smile on his face. It had been Sirius' turn to tease his friend on finding his feelings.

Surprisingly, the two had, over the next year, agreed to be each other's best man at their respective bondings. The plan had been approved by both of their families, Sev understanding Sirius' reasoning. After all, Sirius had been Sev's best man when he and Remus had decided to bond a month after Harry and Sirius had gotten together. Sirius had been honored by being his twin's best man, and had enjoyed watching the peaceful smile that Sev wore whenever he looked at Remus. After the ceremony, he had known that this was what he wanted for himself and Harry, a little further down the road. It had further been reinforced when Jamie and Lily had held their bonding in the fall.

And it had happened.

They had bonded three days before, as the sun shone down and sparkled against the white backdrop of snow on the ground. The two of them had decided that they would hold the ceremony under the tree - their tree - at the time of year they had discovered it. They had stood underneath the snow-heavy branches as Albus conducted the ceremony with his brightly shining, pale blue eyes, and a grin under all of his whiskers. They were the last of his 'children' to bond. Sirius and Harry had smiled at each other, their faces glowing with happiness as Albus wove the ribbon around their clasped hands, whispering the words of magic that would bind them together.

Harry shifted against Sirius as his thoughts finally rested on the present. Sirius bent his head just enough to brush his lips against Harry's forehead, where his head was resting on Sirius' shoulder, his arm wrapped around his bonded's torso. As he did so, he ran over a list of just what they could do all day while the blizzard raged on.

Oh yes, honeymoons were good.

******

"It's a boy!"

Sirius laughed at the awestruck look on his friend's face. Roderick had been pacing the room for quite a while, having been thrown out of his wife's bedroom by the midwife delivering their first child. The other man had been a mess from the beginning of the labor pains, and had steadily gotten worse as time went on. It had taken them almost five years for Elina to become pregnant, before they had found a potion that would help with conception. Harry and Sev had helped Elina brew the potion, to ensure that it was made correctly. Potions was new art when it came to the general public, but Sev had been invited to study under a master who had wandered into the village several years before, and Harry had just been curious enough to watch. Now, the results of the potion had just been born.

Next to Sirius, Harry sat up, the midwife's jubilant shout waking him from where he'd been sleeping on Sirius' shoulder.

"Congratulations, Roderick," Harry said in a not-quite-awake voice.

Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, congratulations, my friend!"

Roderick still looked stunned. "A son?" he said, his mind still on what the midwife had told him. Obviously, his mind hadn't caught what his friends had said. "I have a son?"

"Master Gryffindor?" The midwife had come back into the room, her voice panicked. Blood was all down the front of her robe, and her hands were stained pink. "Mistress needs a doctor... I can't stop the bleeding!" she practically shouted. "I need help to stop it."

Harry jumped up from the sofa where he and Sirius had been sitting. Sirius followed a half-second later behind him and Roderick as they entered the room to find Elina Gryffindor passed out on the huge bed in the center of the room. Next to the bed in the newly set up bassinet, was her new son, his face red as he cried at the top of his lungs.

Harry immediately went and picked up the infant, making soothing noises to the child in comfort. Sirius went to Elina and touched her skin. It was clammy and cold, completely opposite of the woman's personality - which was warm and bubbly and friendly, but most of all loving. A shiver ran along Sirius' spine when he realized that the doctor would be too late, and that none of them here knew enough how to stop the bleeding.

The midwife came rushing back in, two house-elves running behind her with a thick stack of towels and a bowl of steaming water. The woman frantically tried to stop the bleeding as Sirius and Roderick watched, but the effort was futile.

Roderick finally stopped the woman when he realized his wife was dead.

"Thank you, Ronwyn, but it's...."

Sirius put a hand on his friend's shoulder as Roderick broke down. The other man fell to his knees beside the bed and picked up his wife's hand, holding it to his cheek as tears began to fall down it.

"Elina."

Sirius tore his eyes from his friend to rest them on Harry. His bonded was holding the infant to his chest as tears fell from his green eyes. He crossed the room to wrap his arms around Harry as they began to mourn the loss of their friend.

Roderick had finally pulled himself together enough to set in motion what needed to be done. As he did, Sirius and Harry stayed by his side, never giving him the chance to sink deeper into depression. The couple had also made sure that he took care of himself, as well as sending curious village folk back to their own houses. The news had spread quickly as the sun raced over the summer landscape, and the village had converged on the Gryffindor house for any further news. Sirius had turned most away, but for a few. Sev and Remus had come to offer support for their friend for a couple of hours before returning to their own house, to pack for the trip to Glastonbury, where Jamie and Lily had gone for the summer to visit Merlin's library.

Sirius and Harry now sat in Roderick's study on the large sofa. Roderick was seated in his favorite chair, the large leather covered monstrosity taking up almost as much room as the sofa in the room. A large cup of spirits was clutched in one hand, as the other ran over Roderick's face.

"What am I going to do?" he finally asked his two friends.

Harry gave a reassuring smile to Roderick. "First, you need to name your son, my friend," he said in his soft voice. "Second, you need to go and get some rest."

Sirius snorted. "Third, no more for you to drink, Roderick. I think four glasses of *that* is enough for you tonight."

Roderick held the cup up to his nose and took a giant sniff. He closed his eyes and was silent for a while. Sirius thought he had fallen asleep when he suddenly opened his eyes.

"A name?" he finally uttered in a miserably tiny voice.

Harry nodded. "He needs a name. I know Elina wanted to give her son or daughter their name, but you need to choose what you think she wanted."

Roderick shook his head violently. "I can't. Elina wanted..." He took a deep breath and shut his eyes tight. "You do it, Heron." Roderick opened his eyes and looked at Harry. "Please...."

Sirius looked at Harry to gauge his reaction. His bonded had surprise written all over his face, even as he agreed with Roderick's reasoning. Harry had been the closest to Elina of them all after Roderick, taking a shine to his friend's choice of partner. Harry looked up in question to Sirius, and he nodded his answer.

"Godric."

Roderick's head shot up from where it had been hanging against his chest. "What?"

"Godric Albus." Harry's face was kind. "Your son's name is Godric Albus Gryffindor."

Roderick paused as the name rolled over him. His young brother's name hadn't been spoken since he had been killed by one of the griffins the family raised the year before. The eleven year old had been trapped in one of the stalls when thunder had roared through the air, setting off a stampede in the stables. He finally smiled, his face touched with sadness.

"Yes," he said in a sad voice. "Godric Albus. My son is Godric Albus"

******

"Godric, slow down!" Harry laughingly shouted at the young boy who was racing across the field on his newly made broom.

Sirius laughed from where he was sitting underneath THE tree, watching as Harry and Godric played tag on their brooms. They had taught the boy how to make his own broom, and now Godric was testing out his creation with excited energy.

"Father?"

Sirius turned to find his five-year-old daughter, Elina, watching him with serious green eyes. In her hands she held a squirming toad.

"Can I keep him?"

He chuckled. "How about you keep him out here? He may have family that lives in the field with him, and he might get lonely if you take him into the house."

Elina nodded. "Yes, Father," she said, setting the toad back onto the ground. She watched a little forlornly as the toad hopped with great speed into the wildflowers that grew along the nearby fence.

Sirius pulled his daughter into his lap, fingers running up and down her sides. The little girl started giggling, temporarily forgetting her newly lost friend. After five minutes of the laughing torture he put his daughter under, he tucked Elina into his arm and watched as Harry and Godric sped back and forth across the field.

The potion that Elina's namesake had taken to become pregnant with Godric almost fourteen years ago had been taken by Sev and 'polished.' It had taken a couple of years before he had announced that he had modified it enough that a man would be able to become pregnant. Well, to their little group.

The village had become separated over the idea of two men sharing a life together, and adding a child to the mix would ignite the waiting bonfire. Instead, their group had slowly removed themselves from doings in the village, most especially Roderick, who had become overwhelmed by women wanting to take Elina's place, something he definitely didn't want. Soon, though, they would have to leave this wondrous place as more people came into the area with strange ideas about magic and those that could wield it.

When Sev had announced the changes to the potion, only Harry had wanted to try it. He and Sirius had argued quite a bit over Harry's using it. Sirius had been afraid that he would lose Harry like Roderick lost Elina in childbirth.

Harry had been tougher, though. Yes, the birth had been difficult, but Elina had been a welcome addition to the small family. Little Godric had been enchanted by the little girl, and had become a fixed part of the scene by his daily visits to the infant. Even now he was quite protective of her.

Sirius knew that Godric was destined for bigger things than this village. Lately he had been speaking of going down to London, to search out other wizards who wanted to band together before those without magic could successfully separate them. Godric wanted to build a school, because he knew that there were a lot of people who never got to be taught the things he had growing up. Jamie, Lily, and Sev had taught Godric most of what he knew, with the rest of them supplementing his education with things he would need to work with students.

Harry and Godric finally tired of their flying and came to sit down next to Sirius, Elina having fallen asleep in his arms. Harry flashed a quick grin at Sirius, who reciprocated the gesture before waving his wand and opening the basket that he'd been sitting next to.

The wind rustled the leaves of the giant tree, giving shade to the small party that sat at its base. Light filtered through the gapes of the leaves, shedding an ethereal glow to Harry as Sirius watched him with a content look on his face. His green eyes seemed to reflect the green leaves of their tree, lending him a not-quite human quality to his face. He knew that he would always be with Harry no matter what would happen, even centuries from now. A content smile crept over his face as Harry looked at him with love.

Fin.


End file.
